Sneaky Tricks To Get Your Little Ones To Eat Their Veggies!

Wednesday, January 17

I've really been struggling to get my little guy to eat any sort of fruit or vegetable lately. During & shortly after Christmas, he wouldn't have any of it! He wouldn't eat a single pea or a slice of apple. It was driving me crazy! I decided I needed to resort to hiding them. I hid fruit in things such as biscuits and muffins, and veggies in lunch or dinner. I've compiled a few tips of different ways to get those pesky fruit & veggies into your little ones, if like mine they are being really fussy!

Blend them up!

Soup is my go to meal when I need to eat up some veggies, and luckily my little girlie loves soup too so I don't ever have to worry about her not eating enough vegetables. Make a quick soup using whatever vegetables you have, some stock and potatoes. Then if you need to, give it a quick blend so your little ones can't pick out the things they don't want to eat! The same sort of idea for smoothies! Victoria from Lylia Rose says "I make a green smoothie for breakfast every morning and the kids love them and beg me for more! They just think it's a nice smoothie/milkshake and even a treat! Along with fruit I'll add all sorts of different things each day depending on what we have, such as broccoli, kale, spinach, cucumber and so on.."

Try some veggie meals!

I often eat vegetarian sausages, either when I fancy a change, or I need to lose some weight. But incorporating vegetarian alternatives into meals can be a great way to trick the little ones into eating their veggies! Katie from Living Life Our Way suggests "..vegetable fingers that look like fish fingers, vegetable burgers made from actual veg rather than quorn, switch chips for sweet potato fries or better yet vegetable fries... lots of sneaky options" These veggie nuggets look delicious!

Sneak them into your weekly meals

It cant be just us who gets used to the same sort of meals each week? We never have the same meal two weeks in a row, but every other week we probably eat the same meals. Spaghetti Bolognese, Casserole, Stew, Cottage Pie & even Lasagne are our regular go-to meals. So the trick is to figure out ways of encorporating more veggies into your regular meals! Hodge Podge Days has a fantastic recipe for Sneaky Cauliflower Lasagne Sauce, Emma from Little Miss Eden Rose suggests grating courgette and carrots into bolognese sauce! These Broccoli Smileys from Friendly First Foods are adorable! I'd make them just for me! This Healthy Cottage Pie from Back With A Bump is a fantastic, yet easy way to fill up your little ones with veggies! We do love a good cottage pie.

'Treat' your little ones!

If you fancy being really sneaky, or maybe your little ones are just being really fussy - try putting some fruit & veggies into some sweet treats! Unless they want to help you bake them, you don't even have to tell them what's in it and they'll be none the wiser! Haha.

What about some delicious, moist, chocolately brownies - with beetroot! My Boys Club has a fantastic brownie recipe here. When my little ones were really little, they used to absolutely love homemade icelollies. I need to start making them again! Eva over at Captain Bobcat has shared a delcious way of making Healthy, 3 Ingredient Ice Lollies! Slurp! Last but certainly not least - chocolate cake. Because who doesnt love a good old chocolate cake! Liberty from Liberty On The Lighter Side reminds us that you can disguise a variety of veggies in chocolate cake! From courgette to sweet potato! Yummy!

Sneaking fruit and vegetables into food is sometimes neccesary to get little ones to actually eat them, but Laura from Wafflemama does make a good point "..Finding something they like such as hummus or salsa to dip them can sometimes get them eating bits whole or roasting them to make them tastier!"